Friday, August 6, 2010

Michael Jordan Picks Up Penthouse Pad

As anyone who knows Your Mama knows, we know next to nothing about grown men who earn outrageous amounts of cheddar dribbling little orange balls up and down gigantic arenas with exceedingly shiny wood floors and netted bottomless baskets at either end. None the less, we're going to do the best we can here with this bit of celebrity real estate bizness that involves a man named Michael Jordan who, according to our ball crazy b.f.f. Fiona Trambeau, is one of the if not the greatest basketball player the world has ever seen.

Listen children, before we begin we must say that although Your Mama finds zip, zero and zilch in public property records that indicates Mister Jordan did anything of the kind, according to Charlotte Chitchatter and a number of real estate rumors and recent reports making their way down the sports gossip grapevine Mister Michael Jordan recently scooped up a penthouse pad in Uptown section of downtown Charlotte, NC.

After a spin through the interweb and a quick consult with Fiona Trambeau–who gave us a verbal blistering for waking her trampy ass up before noon–we learned that Mister Jordan began his professional career as a ball dribbler in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls team. After three consecutive NBA championships, His Airness retired his basketball jersey in 1993–or maybe in 1994, we don't really know–in order to pursue a career in baseball. That endeavor did not, apparently, go very well because by 1995 Mister Jordan was back to the Chicago Bulls getting paid the big bucks. After signing at least one one-year contract that promised him an income of well over $30,000,000 (not counting endorsement deals) and three more consecutive NBA championships Mister Jordan retired for the second time in 1999. He reappeared for a couple of lackluster seasons, according to ol' Fiona Trambeau, in the early 2000s with the ridiculously named Washington Wizards.

Mister Jordan's accolades, awards and professional achievements are far too many for Your Mama to adequately detail. Suffice to say he's a much lauded and applauded fellow with records and accomplishments coming out his wazoo, including playing on two gold medal winning Olympic basketball teams. He was also, of course, enormously fortunate to have all manner of exceedingly–some might say excessively–lucrative endorsement deals thrown at him from deep pocketed multi-national corporations such as (but not limited to) Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and the underwear maker Hanes.

To his credit, even well after his retirement from the b-ball, the charitable Mister Jordan still rakes in a fat fortune on endorsement deals and other business interests that include a majority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats professional basketball team, which brings us back to the real estate matter at hand and the penthouse Mister Jordan allegedly purchased in the Uptown area of downtown Charlotte, NC.

According to all the reports, Mister Jordan recently snatched up the entire 7th floor of The Trust building (below) on N. Tryon Street that looks out over on and is walking distance from the Time Warner Cable Arena where Mister Jordan's Bobcats people do their dribbling and shooting.According to the developer's website, the 7-story Trust building, a modernist affair with wisps of traditional Japanese timber architecture, was put up in 1967 as the Home Federal Savings and Loan Building. The developers who took on the project of converting the bizness building to private residences maintained the architectural spirit and integrity of the building's exterior but transformed the interior spaces into eight luxuriously appointed condos of various sizes and layouts. They also, according to the website, added a residents only roof terrace partially shaded by an glass canopy that includes a private sunbathing area, an outdoor kitchen, dog run, patch of grass, a water wall–whatever that is–various seating areas, and 360 degree views of the surrounding towers of downtown Charlotte's Uptown neighborhood. The building also offers residents access to a wine vault, secure parking, extensive private storage space and an on-site restaurant.

As best as Your Mama can tell, the 7th floor of The Trust was offered as two separate loft style apartments that total about 6,800 square feet of interior space plus recessed terraces with gas grills. We know nothing about the approximately 3,500 square foot "B" side of the 7th floor other than it was originally designed with 2 bedrooms and listed, according to listing information, at $1,650,000.

The "A" side of the 7th floor, according to the developer's website and listing information, spreads across about 3,300 square feet of luxe loft-style space and was designed with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 "spa style" poopers, a large den, a small office area, and a huge pantry/laundry room behind the gourmet kitchen equipped with Viking brand appliances. The listing photos for the unit, last listed at $1,750,000 show medium brown hardwood floors, exposed concrete beam ceilings, and large windows that wrap around the entire apartment.

There are photos floating around of the "A" unit but they're really of little consequence because recent reports indicate that Mister Jordan–whose people, the children will keep, have not publicly confirmed he purchased–has embarked on a major million dollar renovation to combine the two condo units into one 7,250 square foot penthouse aerie with private elevator landing, two large recessed terraces, and 360 degree views.

Mister Jordan will not be the only person connected to the Charlotte Bobcats living up in The Trust. The Bobcat's forward Boris Diaw reportedly also owns a condo at The Trust.

Until 2007, when he got a dee-vorce from his wife Juanita that reportedly cost him a blood curdling $168,000,000, Mister Jordan made his primary home in the suburbs of Chicago where he and the family lived on an sprawling and fully landscaped 8.39 acre spread in Highland Park that the Lake County tax man's records shows measures a beastly, boo-teek hotel sized 27,648 square feet and includes at least 12 terlits and garage parking for at least 14 automobiles. It's not entirely clear to Your Mama if ex-Missus Jordan got the multi-winged pile with indoor basketball court in the dee-vorce, but that does appear to be the case. In truth, the very contemporary suburban crib is so damn big Mister and ex-Missus Jordan could easily divide up the house and both live there and rarely run in to each other. We suspect that's not, however, what happened.

Records and previous reports reveal that in November of 2008, Mister Jordan and his younger Cuban ladee friend Yvette Prieto–a "model" who knows how to pick 'em and was previously hooked up with Julio Inglesias, Jr.–paid $281,000 for a very modest 3 bedroom and 2 pooper house in the surburban Highlands of Kendall community in Miami, FL. Property records show both of their names on the deed for the 2,235 square foot house.

Listen chickens, despite having to cough up a couple hundred million clams for the ex-wife, Mister Jordan is about as far from broke as one can get. It's estimated the basketball legend and athletic icon still rakes in more than $40,000,000 per year so it's unlikely that Mister Jordan purchased the petite pad because he can't afford anything more expensive or lavish. Of course we don't know nuthin' from nuthin' about anything but Your Mama suspects this house in a lackluster area at the south western edge of Miami is one of Miss Pietro's consolation prizes in the event her relationship with the big man swirls down the terlit of love.

Before any of y'all get all righteous and start going to town about how far Mister Jordan has fallen off of his real estate high horse, recognize that the unreformed real estate size queen has far larger real estate dreams and plans than a little house on the edge of the Everglades. Multiple reports reveal that in the spring of 2008 Mister Jordan paid $2,400,000 each for two adjacent lots that total just over 3 acres inside the guarded gates of the super swank Bears Club community in Jupiter FL. The Bears Club, an über upscale golf community, was developed in the late 1990s by former professional golf legend Jack Nicklaus and his wife Barbara.Subsequent reports indicate that plans have been approved for Mister Jordan to build a big ol' mansion at the Bears Club described as "contemporary" with "a limestone-and-stucco exterior and Spanish tile roof." The approved plans call for a beast of a residence that measures around 26,000 square feet and includes 10 bedrooms and 10 poopers, 4 staircases connecting the first and second floors, 1 elevator, and garaging for 8 automobiles and 3 golf carts.

Additional planned amenities of the humongous house include an 11 foot- fireplace in the great room, kitchen with eating area and adjacent family room, library/study with wet bar, media room, a large game or card room on the second floor, and a glass lanai that stretches across the back of the house that looks over the home's spa pool and summer kitchen area.

As if that all were not enough, approved plans for Mister Jordan's new digs also include a guest cottage, pool house, and two-story guard house even though the estate is located in a guard gated community that offers residents private security.

According to the bizzy boys over at Celebrity Address Aerial, Mister Jordan also owns a a big house within the private Glenwild Golf Club community in Park City, UT, the same hoity-toity golf community where, scuttlebutt has it, Tiger Woods has peeped at property. Property records are a bit vague but it appears that the 7,994 square foot house sits on 3.93 acre lot and includes 2 full and 2 half poopers and an unknown number of bedrooms. It looks to Your Mama like he purchased the golf and snow ski getaway in posh Park City in September of 2007.

6 comments:

ok so I wandered to the Trust Bldg.'s ["boutique residence"] website and I shudder to see yet another kitchen with Wall-O'-Appliances. Looks like a laundromat with paneling. Is this the Next Big godawful Thing in kitchens?? and if so, where do I register my very strongly worded protest? Pass those nerve pills, I think I have a bad case of the vapors...

by the way, my word verification tonite is "ovulaud" which I assume is to applaud while ovulating, meanwhile I can't even walk and chew gum...

Yes sir, Michael lives in Glenwild Golf Club, as well as me. His house stands on a hill where as mine is on the golf course looking into the hill and beautiful golf course that Tom Fazio built himself. Yes his house is very big and a great get away for him. He flies his private jet somedays in Heber and takes a helicopter to Glenwild and plays a few holes of golf and then flies away like it was just a normal day. His address is 7495 Purple Sage Park City, Utah 84098. I see him in the locker room some times and is very friendly too. He always has a person in his house to keep it clean and ready whenever he feels like showing up to Park City. Thank You for reading.